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The next Passaic River Community Advisory Group (CAG) meeting will be on Thursday, January 11, 2018 at 6:00 PM,
at a location to be determined.
Presentations from previous meetings are posted in the Digital Library, under Public Outreach Documents, Public
Outreach\Community Advisory Group.
Please contact Sophia Rini with any questions at 212-637-3670 or rini.sophia@epa.gov.

Exposure to low levels of some contaminants
in the environment may have long lasting health
effects on people. Mercury, PCBs and dioxins are
among the major contaminants found in some New
Jersey fish in portions of the state. These
contaminants can be especially harmful to women
of childbearing age, pregnant women and nursing
mothers. Children are also at risk of
developmental and neurological problems if
exposed to these chemicals..

The New Jersey Department of Environmental
Protection (NJDEP) and Department of Health and
Senior Services (NJDHSS) provide advice on
consuming those species of fish in which high
levels of dioxin, PCBs and mercury have been
found.

The Lower Passaic River is a 17-mile
tidal stretch from Dundee Dam to the river mouth at
Newark Bay. The river has a long history of
industrialization, which has resulted in degraded water
quality, sediment contamination, loss of wetlands and
abandoned or underutilized properties along the shore.

A group of Partner Agencies (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and New
Jersey Department of Transportation) is working together to clean up and restore
the Lower Passaic River. The agencies are bringing
together the authorities of the Superfund Program, the
Water Resources Development Act, the Clean Water Act and
other laws to improve the health of the river.

The Community Involvement Plan for the Lower Passaic River has been revised to focus on upcoming work in the lower 8.3 miles of
the Passaic River. The plan provides an overview of outreach tools and techniques that the EPA uses to share information and
involve the public during the cleanup process. Please see the final plan here.

EPA Secures Agreement with Occidental Chemical to Conduct the Design Work for the Lower 8.3 Mile Cleanup [October 2016]

EPA announced a legal agreement with Occidental Chemical Corporation to perform design work needed to begin the cleanup of the lower 8.3
miles of the Lower Passaic River. This work, which includes sampling, evaluating technologies and doing the engineering work necessary
before physical cleanup work can begin, will be done under EPA oversight. The design work is estimated to cost approximately $165 million.
Occidental Chemical will also pay for EPA’s oversight costs. The press release is available
here.
The legal agreement is available here.

EPA has completed the 4th Five-Year Review
of the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site located at 80 and 120 Lister Ave in Newark, NJ. This review confirmed that the
cleanup conducted at the site, which included construction of flood and slurry walls, placement of an engineered cap, and
pumping and treating of groundwater, protects public health and the environment and functions as intended by the site decision
documents. EPA reviewed site operation, maintenance and monitoring information as well as the status of land use controls in making this determination.

What is an EPA Five-Year Review? EPA inspects Superfund sites every five years to ensure that cleanups conducted
remain fully protective of human health and the environment. These regular reviews, which are required by federal
law when contaminants remain at a site, include:

Inspection of the site and cleanup technologies;

Review of monitoring data, operating data, and maintenance records, and

Determination if any new regulatory requirements have been established since EPA’s original cleanup decision was finalized.

If you have any questions about the 5-Year Review, please contact Elizabeth Butler, EPA Project Manager, at
butler.elizabeth@epa.gov.

Record of Decision for the Lower 8.3 Miles of the Lower Passaic River [March 2016]

EPA has finalized its decision on a cleanup plan for the sediments of the lower 8.3 miles of the Lower Passaic River. The cleanup plan,
called a Record of Decision, includes dredging approximately 3.5 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment bank to bank from Newark Bay to
the Belleville/Newark border. After dredging, an engineered cap will be placed over the entire lower eight miles of the river.
The cap will prevent contamination in the sediment from entering the food chain, thereby decreasing health risks to people who eat
fish and crab from the lower Passaic. The dredging will prevent the cap from exacerbating flooding and will allow for current commercial
navigation to continue in the 1.7 miles of the river closest to Newark Bay. Dredged sediment will be dewatered locally and transported
off-site for disposal. The estimated cost of the remedy is $1.38 billion. The main text of the Record of Decision is available
here.
The rest of the Record of Decision, including a Responsiveness Summary containing all of EPA’s responses to public comments on the cleanup
proposal is available here. The Final Plan Fact Sheet is available
here. The Final
Plan Fact Sheet is available in Spanish and Portuguese in the Digital Library, under Public Outreach\Fact Sheets.